General

HMRC has a useful online tool to help agents and taxpayers know when they can expect to receive a reply from HMRC regarding a query or request that they have made. The online tool is updated weekly.

The online tool has recently been extended to include information about employers’ PAYE and National Insurance.

The full list of taxes the tool can be used for are as follows:

• Child Benefit
• Corporation Tax
• Employers’ PAYE
• Income Tax
• National Insurance
• Self-Assessment
• Tax credits
• VAT

Agents can also check how long it will take HMRC to:

• register you as an agent to use HMRC online services;
• process an application for authority to act on behalf of a client; and
• amend your agent details.

The online tool can be accessed at the following address, and you do not have to be logged in to receive an answer: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/Check-when-you-can-expect-a-reply-from-HMRC/start/are-you-an-agent

A recent investigation by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, in connection with the UK passport office, has found that hundreds of thousands of applicants faced unacceptable delays in receiving their passports.

Following the removal of COVID-19 travel restrictions, His Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) received a record number of passport applications. HMPO had anticipated this surge in applications, however, whilst staff processed a record number of applications, many people were let down.

The consequences of these delays included being unable to travel for family emergencies, losing money spent on holidays and having difficulties proving their identities. Another surge in demand is predicted for this year, meaning that now might be a good time to check if your passport needs to be renewed.  

It is currently taking up to 10 weeks for passports to be issued. It takes longer for postal applications to be processed than online applications. There are also premium services available at an additional cost. 

The current fees for a new passport are as follows:

There does seem to be a trend to replace human interactions with automated AI systems. This is especially evident in the management of our tax system.

There was a time, many years ago, when each taxpayer’s tax affairs would be managed by a local tax inspector and all records were kept in paper format in a physically located paper-based filing system.

Now, all tax records are kept electronically. Unless your affairs are being formally investigated by HMRC – in which case a tax person may be making decisions – the only human interaction will be with a call centre operative, and it is unlikely that they will ever have seen your data prior to your call.

It is a small step from a call with a human being, to a desktop exchange with an AI system.

HMRC staff will consist of specialists who pursue tax avoiders, but even they will be prepped by AI data.

Automation is an efficient way to process huge volumes of data in double quick time. And the days of human involvement in that process are probably numbered.

Younger generations who are stepping into the world of work would be wise to consider how AI is likely to impact their chosen occupation. In the future, complexity may be the realm that quantum computers monopolise. Their inventors may need to sit back and witness the effects of their self-learning progenitors, and perhaps with some trepidation.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the official UK government body responsible for intellectual property (IP) rights including patents, designs, trade marks and copyright. 

The process of applying for a patent is set to change significantly over the next 12 months. The IPO has published a transformation document which sets out what patent customers can expect over the next 12 months, and details of upcoming changes to IPO’s services as part of the One IPO Transformation Programme.

The changes will start in September 2023 when the first new ‘One IPO’ service will launch a new patents search service. In addition, a new patents pilot will also start. This is expected to be followed in spring 2024 with the launch of the new One IPO patents service for all patents customers. This will include a new digital patents applications service, a new customer accounts service and the first APIs will be made available – allowing providers of IP software to link their products directly to IPO’s new systems.

Further changes are expected in the second half of 2025 including the launch of trade marks and designs services. Also expected is the introduction of a digital hearings and tribunals service.

The Minister for AI and Intellectual Property, said:

‘By delivering fast, flexible, high-quality services for the future, the ‘One IPO Transformation Programme’ will help the UK Intellectual Property Office deliver its ambition to be the best IP office in the world. I am excited to mark one year to go until the IPO’s new fully digital service for patents is launched.’

The Competition & Markets Authority has issued an update on the action it is taking to ease price rises in grocery bills. In their press release issued on 15 May 2023, the CMA said:

As cost of living pressures have grown, the CMA has been working to understand how well markets in essential goods and services are working. Along with road fuel, we identified groceries as an early priority, and we started work earlier this year looking into unit pricing practices online and instore.

While global factors have also been the main driver of grocery price increases, and at this stage the CMA has not seen evidence pointing to specific competition concerns in the grocery sector, it is important to be sure that weak competition is not adding to the problems.

Given ongoing concerns about high prices, we are announcing the stepping up of our work in the grocery sector to understand whether any failure in competition is contributing to grocery prices being higher than they would be in a well-functioning market.

The prices that consumers pay for their groceries are the result of competition at three main levels of the market:

1. Competition between retailers, where consumers shop for their products.
2. Competition between suppliers who make the products and sell them to the retailers.
3. Competition between raw material providers who provide the inputs to food suppliers.

Given the need to provide findings swiftly, the CMA will do this work in a targeted way, focusing on those areas where people are experiencing greatest cost of living pressures.

This new phase of our work will therefore cover:

• First, completing work to assess how competition is working overall in the grocery retail market, drawing on publicly available data and other information.
• Second, in parallel, identifying which product categories, if any, might merit closer examination across the supply chain.

The CMA will engage with a wide range of industry participants, experts, and other stakeholder groups to inform our assessment. We will provide an update on this work over the coming months.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on 10 May 2023 and voted 7-2 in favour of raising interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.5% in a move to try and continue to tackle continued inflation. This is the twelfth consecutive time that the MPC has increased interest rates with rates now the highest they have been since 2008.

This means that the late payment interest rate applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC charges increased by 0.25% to 7%.

These changes came into effect on:

• 22 May 2023 for quarterly instalment payments; and
• 31 May 2023 for non-quarterly instalments payments.

The repayment interest rates applied to the main taxes and duties that HMRC pays interest on increased by 0.25% to 3.5% from 31 May 2023. The repayment rate is set at the Bank Rate minus 1%, with a 0.5% lower limit.

The government has announced a number of new measures to help millions of people boost their future savings. One of these measures is a simplification of the Help to Save scheme.

The Help to Save scheme was launched by the government in September 2018 to help those on low incomes to boost their savings. Under the scheme, those eligible could save between £1 and £50 every calendar month and receive a 50% government bonus. The 50% bonus is payable at the end of the second and fourth years and is based on how much account holders have saved. The bonus is paid directly into the account holder’s chosen bank account.

It was announced as part of the Spring Budget measures that the government will extend the Help to Save scheme by 18 months, on its current terms, until April 2025. The government will examine how the scheme can be made simpler by reforms to how its bonus is calculated, the length of time an account can be open for and eligibility requirements, all with the aim of enhancing long-term savings habits.

The government also wants to address the fact that parents who have not claimed Child Benefit could miss out on building their state pension. Those affected will in future be able to claim National Insurance credit retrospectively. Further details will be published in due course.

New legislation aimed at cracking down on rip-offs, protecting consumer cash online and boosting competition in digital markets has been published. 

The new far-reaching Bill will have the following headline benefits:

• New powers aimed at boosting competition in digital markets currently dominated by a small number of firms.
• Clamping down on subscription traps that cost consumers £1.6bn a year, making it easier for consumers to opt out when a free trial or introductory offer is ending.
• Tackling fake reviews so customers aren’t cheated by bogus ratings.

As part of these measures, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will be given new powers to tackle businesses that breach consumer rights law. The Bill will provide the CMA with stronger tools to investigate competition problems and take faster, more effective action, including where companies collude to bump-up prices at the expense of UK consumers.

The CMA will be able to directly enforce consumer law rather than go through lengthy court processes. Both the CMA and the courts will have the power to impose penalties on businesses of up to 10% of global turnover for breaching consumer law or up to £300,000 in the case of an individual.

The new measures will come into effect as soon as possible following parliamentary approval, subject to secondary legislation and the publication of guidance.

HMRC has not accepted personal credit card payments since January 2018 when credit card surcharges on personal credit cards were banned.

However, HMRC continues to accept payments by corporate credit card or corporate debit cards. The use of these cards is subject to a fee.

Payment by personal debit cards is currently fee-free. There is also no charge for payment by Direct Debit, bank transfer or cheque.

You can pay HMRC online using a suitable credit / debit card for:

• Self-Assessment
• Employers’ PAYE and National Insurance
• VAT
• Corporation Tax
• Stamp Duty Land Tax
• Income Tax (because you previously under-paid)
• Imported goods you’ve declared on the Customs Declaration Service
• Miscellaneous payments (if your payment reference begins with ‘X’)

When making a payment for Self-Assessment, you should use your 11-character payment reference. This is your 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) followed by the letter ‘K’.

HMRC will accept your online debit or credit card payment on the date you make it, and this includes payments made on bank holidays and weekends.

Scotland’s new First Minister Humza Yousaf has announced a new £15 million investment to help tackle child poverty. This investment will see thousands more low-income families benefit from free school age childcare.

Existing services for eligible families in areas of Dundee, Clackmannanshire, Glasgow and Inverclyde will be expanded, with new services set up in other communities across Scotland.

The money will also enable local football clubs to apply for funding totalling £2 million to support the provision of after school and holiday activities clubs, in a joint initiative with the Scottish Football Association.

There will also be nine other projects that will receive a share of the £15 million funding to continue offering childcare services in 2023-24.

The First Minister said:

'This £15 million investment is part of our work to build a system of year-round school age childcare – fully funded for those who need it most.

Scotland already has the most generous childcare offer anywhere in the UK. All three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds are entitled to 1,140 hours a year of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC). We are working with partners to progress our childcare offer even further, with plans to expand ELC to one-year-olds and more two-year-olds.'